Peter & I landed in Warsaw and managed to find an old lady's flat to stay in; the high rise view looked onto the Palace of Science & Culture; a Stalinist eye sore. Trains took us around the country. Gdansk was a beautiful place to our surprise; the communist regime had restored the centre superbly. We visited charming Frombork; home of Copernicus; one of my heroes. The Bialowieza national park was a bit disappointing; the European Bison were held in enclosures and not wild as had hoped. Krakow was the expected tourist centre; pretty but not special. However, with Pete's fanatic interest in Schindler we had a good tour of related sites. The Wieliczka salt mine was one of the highlights. Of course, the visits to Auschwitz and Birkenau were memorable and moving. We managed 2 days trekking in the Tatras mountains; unfortunately the weather was poor. Our stay in a mountain hut was good fun. Our Eastern Europe tour then continued on into Slovakia.